People’s Hearing on Health Care Before the Office of the Public Advocate for New York City

June 27, 2017

My name is Maggie Andreoni, and I am the Research, Policy, and Advocacy Associate at Hunger Free America. Formerly called the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, Hunger Free America changed its name in 2016 to better reflect the broad scope of our national work. This was also accompanied with intensifying our local efforts under the new name, Hunger Free New York City.

I want to thank Public Advocate Letitia James for your work fighting on behalf of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, as well as for the opportunity to testify.

Both the House and Senate health care repeal/tax cut bills would hurt tens of millions of Americans by either taking away their health insurance entirely or reducing their quality of care. Here’s why those changes would increase domestic hunger significantly:

2) Poor health hampers employment, which increases hunger. Americans with untreated or under-treated illnesses are less likely to be able to find and keep paid employment. People who are unemployed or under-employed are more likely to be hungry. Conversely, a study of low-income urban women found that “food secure women tended to have better employment and income outcomes than food insecure women.” Since people who are unemployed or under-employed are also less likely to heave health insurance, that makes them less healthy, and thus hungrier, perpetuating a vicious cycle.

4) Many hungry Americans already lack health insurance, and both bills would make the situation even worse. Of the 42 million Americans forced to use food pantries and soup kitchens in 2014, 29 percent lived in households in which no members had health insurance. In households without a child or senior citizen, 41 percent lacked health insurance. Yet 81 percent of households with at least one senior had health insurance, with many covered by Medicare and Medicaid, which would be deeply cut by both bills.